Delhi elections 2015: CM will solve all our problems, say upbeat kids

NEW DELHI: Arman, a 12-year-old from a jhuggi near Ramlila Maidan, led a delegation of children aged between seven and 11 to Arvind Kejriwal’s swearing-in ceremony. A tricolor painted across his cheeks, he carried with him a tiny blackboard on which was chalked a man with a broom.
“Paanch Saal Kejriwal,” shouted the kids in unison, one for them balancing an oversize AAP cap on his tiny head.Arman and his gang — Hassan (7), Aman (8), Ibrahim (11) and Sakit (10) — had specific demands for their new chief minister to fulfill. They want Kejriwal to improve the quality of education, provide better health and curb price rise.
“We want him to make a new school for us. We want more teachers. Whenever a teacher is not present in class, everyone starts fighting,” says Arman, who is confident that Kejriwal will solve his problems.
While Arman and his troupe want better education, middle-aged Parvinder Kataria hopes that Kejriwal’s tenure will result in better job prospects for his 10-year-old daughter once she grows up. “I struggled for years to find a job and am currently self-employed. I hope that with Kejriwal as chief minister my daughter will have more opportunities than me,” he said.
Kataria’s daughter Sneha stood on a chair beside him, an AAP topi perched on her head. A student of Laxmi Public School in Karkadooma, the young one knows exactly who Kejriwal is —the chief minister.
Elsewhere at the grounds, nine-year-old Suhana, Aksa (4) and Alismin (8) spent the morning distributing AAP caps to supporters.
Kejriwal even appealed to adolescents like 15-year-old Mohammad Arshad. “Even though I am not eligible to vote, I worked as a volunteer for AAP, distributing pamphlets and caps door-to-door,” he said, adding he would vote for Kejriwal in the next assembly elections.